Just Another Day
by emmymy
Summary: Join Melody as she take a step into fiction. She could have never in her wildest dreams imagined she'd land in middle earth on an adventure like this! Stuck on a cross country trip with a bunch of men attempting to save their world from unspeakable evil was never going to be easy, but it will make one hell of a story.


Chapter One - Just another day.

_Sometimes I think back to my old life… in fact, I can remember it very clearly. I miss so many things about life back then, mostly my mother and her never ending supply of warm hugs. Of course there was also, my cousins, ice cream, milkshakes, cinemas, modern plumbing and oh god how I miss Wi-Fi… Honestly, I could really go on with these lists all day…..  
But it feels so strange to remember back now. I was different. So young, so focused and too desperate to prove myself in the big bad world.  
That day, looking back was really just like any other. How could I have possibly known that this would be the day things would change forever. The day my life and a great adventure really began…._

"Hello there, what can I get you today?" I greeted with a smile, for what must have been the thousandth time today. It was just another day, beginning like any other at the corner café where I worked. The job itself was quite tiresome, the hours were long and the pay was lousy.

"Can I get a banana bread and a flat white?" The lady in her business attire somewhat impatiently enquired all the while looking down her nose, before tapping her foot and checking her watch. She was regular, visited daily with a constant attitude. Always impatient and always rushing. So I, as normal, pasted on a large smile and ignoring her attitude got to work on the order.

"Sure, no problem." I replied back all too brightly, while I pulled out a plate from the drawer behind me with a very perfected and choreographed movement, before then closing it with a bump of my butt. At the same time I also leaned over to start the old coffee machine, which groaned and made unhealthy noises as I awoke it from its slumber. Before quickly remembering to pull another sandwich from earlier out from the toaster for another customer who was still waiting. Luckily it wasn't burnt, whew.

"That will be six dollars fifty thanks" I called as I finished up by processing the transaction on the till and from then straight onto the next customer.

Now, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I pretty much run this place when it comes to actually doing the work that needs to be done. Most days, while working around my hectic university schedule of course, I'm there from open to close. Firstly prepping the food, serving it to customers and then finally cleaning their mess before closing in the late afternoon.

Sure, there are other staff who work here and some are my friends, but most of them are still in high school working casually part-time and still seem to lack the maturity needed to realize that this is a job not paid babysitting. The manager however, is a completely different story. If I were to define her role in this work place it would be that she is fantastic at looking busy and doing very little at the same time, an expert in fact. I personally couldn't believe she hadn't been fired yet and quietly I was waiting for that day when she will be. It would give me a nice break from her demanding voice as she gave me a daily list of her own uncompleted chores.

My mother had raised her daughter with a very strong work ethic. I mean, if you are going to work you might as well do a good job right? Earn your money and earn your keep.

So of course it frustrates me to no end how much I work. Much more than my own share might I add, with no pay rise. In fact on this day it has seemed to bother me that little bit more than usual. Due mostly to the fact the manager Ellie was nowhere to be found. Most likely in her office doing "paperwork", which in reality means scrolling through her Facebook feed.

But hey, at the end of the day I did like the people who frequented the store. I love that the same regulars came in almost every day after bingo. Most of time I'll have their coffee and scones ready before they even sit down. I especially love that they bring me homemade puddings at Christmas and birthday cards with chocolates. That kind of thing makes me go to work with a smile no matter how much of a bother everything else can be. Plus I was putting myself through university and that required some serious funds.

I had to stop with such idle thoughts as from then on customers decided to come and go in quick succession. Resulting in the pile of dishes that I then washed as afternoon crowd began to clear. I washed each plate making sure they were squeaky clean before moving onto the next one. I had always found washing dishes strangely therapeutic, keeping my hands busy while my mind wandered onto other things.

Not too long after that though with a glance at the clock I realized it was finally close time. With a quick praise of 'Hallelujah, thank the lord' I chucked down the dishcloth, and together we all began the closing ritual. With the help of a few others the metal roller doors were shut and locked. Quickly I said my goodbyes before heading to our tiny cramped staff bathroom. Luckily today only managing to trip over a few boxes along way. Once I had made it I began shimmying my way into something a little more comfortable. That turned out to be a flowery skirt and casual shirt. Finally glad to be able to escape the café, I stuffed the dirty uniform into my already full backpack. It looked just about ready to split at the seams as I chucked it over my shoulder.

Okay Mel, one down one to go.

It was onto my second job now, tutoring. At the moment I am currently 2 years into my degree of biomedical science and I spend my time tutoring on behalf of the University for a little extra moolah in the bank. Plus it looks fantastic on the resume.

But boy, did my mum like to constantly tell me how I have took on too much and I was going to burn myself out. To be honest she was probably right. But she didn't understand how hard it was to make a name of yourself in the health field, she didn't understand my need to pour my heart and soul into everything I do. It was just in my nature. She always supported me though, through thick and thin. I knew she only did it because she worried about me. I missed her voice too, even if it was only her nagging tone. Making the mental note to call her when I got home.

From work I made the quick fifteen minute dash to the school's library and that is where I spent the next three hours on campus going through some organic chemistry with first years. I actually really liked it, I found it fun and rewarding to help someone else understand concepts. Especially since these concepts had once been new and intimidating to me too once. Plus after each session I have never failed to learn something myself along the way.

One thing I have always had is a curious mind, I love to learn new things. Knowledge is most definitely power, and you can simply never have enough.

Once I had finished explaining the difference between ketals and hemiketals to the group, most of them having had enough of a study session began to pack up and head home. Like them, I also had that very same idea as I collected my pens into my pencil case and packed away my notepad checking the clock to see it was nearly eight thirty at night. I was ready for a yummy dinner and my soft bed as I had a six o'clock wakeup call tomorrow morning for class. My thoughts on catching some z's however was soon interrupted.

"Hey Melody!" one of my superior demonstrators called as everyone packed to leave. He flicked his hand in a gesture that meant I should make my way over to him. At that, I felt a little bit of hopefulness fill me. This was it. A couple of weeks ago I had applied for a paid internship in a community health research project of looking into the effects of Diabetes on the wider community. It required a massive paper submission looking into the issue which I had spent hours perfecting. I had poured my soul into that paper and was quite proud of the result. The opportunity itself was an awesome chance to meet some professionals in the field, get a little bit of real life experience and street cred and help build an awesome resume and plus it was actually was something that held major interest for me.

Community health was something I loved. It was my passion, and after all it was my end goal was to become a GP and to be a part of the first line delivery to healthcare. With high hopes of actively making a big difference to someone's life while I was there. I had a strong desire to help others. Then there is the fact that I love biology and the awesomeness that is the human body. It's truly fascinating stuff.

I walked over to him quickly with an excited skip to my step. Praying for good news.

"Hi Dean. How's it going?"

"Good Melody. Listen, about the Professor Higden's research project….." He began. I smiled nodding him forward. This was it, this was it!

"It was a tough one but…we are going to go with Lynn this time round. It was a good paper you wrote but Lynn has just a little more life experience and we thought a better fit for this one. But keep up the good work, it's not going unnoticed Better luck next time Kiddo."

Oh, well that certainly wasn't the outcome I was expecting. Stupidly, I thought I was a shoe in, after all the work I put in here in my own time and that application essay I spent hours and hours on.

"O-Oh" My voice crackled in surprise at the rejection "That's okay. Please keep me in mind for the next one. It's something I'd really love to do." I played off lightly hoping to hide my real feelings. I didn't want him to think I was weakling who couldn't handle the competition and a few setbacks.

"Will do Mel. Goodnight." Was his only reply as he too packed up and left.

My eyes watered. I bit my lip, in attempt to stop the gathering tears. Don't cry here, Mel, don't cry here I chanted as disappointment shot painfully through me.

I had worked so hard for the spot and it was just given away to someone else, who for a fact I knew didn't study as hard as me. Trust me, don't even get me started on that girl. It's not often that I truly dislike people, but let's just say I definitely wasn't her biggest fan.

I quickly packed my bag and left the building not wanting to let my disappointment show. So I then began the long walk to the bus stop and then home. Feeling pretty miserable for myself along the way.

While I walked the familiar concrete path to my bus I thought over the recently unfolded events. Really I shouldn't have been surprised I knew Lynn was good friends with the professors and when it comes to your career, who you know really does mean everything. But sue me, I have always been a sensitive soul so rejection of any kind has never really sat well with me.

Really this was just another thing to put me in a really sour mood. Life had been a little rough recently, with a long time demands for keeping up with course content for my studies. It made it very hard to juggle work with school. Which in turn meant making rent and keeping food in the cupboard a little tougher too.

I know I shouldn't complain, really I do. I mean I have my health, I'm blessed to live in a place accessibility to education.. Heck, I'm just lucky to have clean water to drink and food to eat. It's not that I'm not grateful for the opportunities I've been given, and my studies is going well… It's just tiring. I'm exhausted. With the same routine of work, study, work study. It's just hard being a long way from home.

I had moved away from my mum in small town down south to be closer to a school with a good reputation to pursue my dreams, being the first of my family to even finish their secondary education let alone continue in hopes of becoming a doctor!

I can admit though that I am lonely. Of course I have no love life to speak of. I unfortunately do not seem to possess enough feminine whiles to attract the opposite sex. Not that I'd have the guts to talk to them anyway. I could talk your ear off if I was at work, or discussing schoolwork, but general socializing proves to be a bit harder for me. Yep, socially awkward for life, I suppose.

Anyway after all that whining, the dream still shone bright of course, but the struggle has made things a little hard and stressful recently and I would like nothing better than a good break, or even god forbid, a sleep in.

And those moody thoughts carried me all the way to the bus top and with the first bit of luck I have had today the bus arrived promptly on time for once.

Before long I took a seat on my bus, and popped my earphones in hoping a little wind down time where I can catch it. The bus drove closer towards my destination, my small bedroom in a shared rent house. It was alright, I have very little complaints. Sure, the roommates could be a little loud sometimes when they had their friends over on weekends, but for the most part they were pretty chill. That chillness could probably be attributed to the amount of weed I knew they smoked. But hey, I stay out of their business and they stay out of mine. At the end of the day I had a good thing going, rent was cheap and the roof didn't leak… well at least it didn't anymore.

The bus came to a stop only a couple of streets down from my house and I hoped out and began the short walk, glad I'm on the home stretch. It would have been great to have a car but right now the old girl was having a few problems and would be out of order until I could find a cheap mechanic to fix it. Just add it to the list of the a hundred others things I have to do right? So far it had just been sitting in the too hard basket.

The night air was cool though, very refreshing. Plus I could do with a little extra physical activity, at least that's what I was telling myself. So yeah, being that home was just around the corner the cool night air was welcomed knowing that it wouldn't be long to sweltering and humid summer nights. The sky was pretty too, luckily Brisbane was relatively small city and the sky was never covered by any pollution. So when you found yourself away from bright city lights you could always see the stars glisten above.

Looking above while I wandered forward a small flash caught the side of my eye. The flash shot widely across the sky. A shooting star! It came and went quickly but I was sure that had to be what I saw. The first one I had ever seen! Probably the sky's way of telling me I should lighten up from my grouchy mood…

Wait then, doesn't that mean I should make a wish right? What should I wish for? I stopping in my tracks I considered my current predicament and my current desires and then as silly as it sounds I began whispering my impromptu wish to the sky.

"I wish that things will work out. That life experience everyone seems to think that I'm lacking? Well I want it. Give me a little bit of purpose here would be nice. I've been run a little ragged lately. Some good karma would be nice. "

I closed my eyes wishing. I knew it was silly to wish on a shooting star, but hey why not right? What have I got to lose?

I looked up one more time to the sky and for a moment, and most likely by a trick of the eye the stars almost seemed to shine just a little bit brighter, and the sky seemed to have a strange glow. Blinking, I shook my head as the sky returned to normal. Continuing to walk until I arrived home.

I marched up my front steps reaching for the keys and bringing them to the handle to unlock the door, only to find it was unlocked. I rolled my eyes skyward. Both Shanna and Rob my roommates never seemed to remember to lock the door. I thanked my lucky stars we lived in a relatively safe neighborhood where it has yet to have been a problem.

I quietly slinked past the living room where rob lay passed out and snoring on the couch with the gentle hum of the TV in the background. Shanna however was sitting at the kitchen dining ahead of me with her laptop before her. I gave her a friendly smile and a whispered hello, as not wake rob who lay close by. Straight to the kitchen I threw my pre-cooked dinner into the microwave before I made quick work of it. Only then after the plates where washed and dried did I head to my room.

At that point the clock read it ten thirty and I am more than ready to hit the hay.

Wasting little time I threw on my PJ's. Comfy and loose with kittens on the cotton shorts, the shirt read 'you've cat to be kitten me.' Cute right?

I flung myself into my bed and snuggle beneath my comforter. Wrapping myself into a blanket burrito, a cocoon of comfiness.

It didn't take long my eyes to drop. Already half a step into dreamland I thought I heard a woman's voice singing. Strangely peaceful I fell only deeper to sleep.


End file.
